Chinese military leaders call automation the great equalizer, since its enemies heavily depend upon computers. An effective attack upon their enemy’s IT infrastructure provides an immediate and disproportionate impact which is the core concept of asymmetric warfare.

This asymmetry benefits the attacker, regardless of his motives or methods.

I was asked to surrender my electronic gadgets. Being of the old school, I had none. This pleased the gatekeeper. I was led to a room furnished with only a curious table and four old wooden bankers chairs. No telephone, no electrical outlets, one florescent light fixture above the table.  The gatekeeper had to unlock the room. She then waited at the open door until my contact arrived.

My contact enters and places pieces of chalk and a chalkboard eraser on the the table. Most of the table top is painted with chalkboard paint.

We eventually compose a handwritten Memorandum of Agreement regarding the engagement, sign it, and off we go.

These people understand the rules, especially Rule #1 — If you don’t want it overheard, don’t say it. But I must admit, I have never seen a “Magic Slate” table before.

Corporate Blogger, or Corporate Espionage?

Doug Cantwell, a Boeing spokesman who attended a recent industry symposium as an “independent blogger.” By passing himself off as a blogger — and not as a Boeing employee — Cantwell stirred up a controversy that could have serious implications for both companies that want to experiment with social media — and for reporters who work in the new medium.

your job will be much harder when you have to persuade someone that, yes, your blog  is a legitimate, independent news outlet and no, you’re not masquerading as a reporter for the purposes of collecting intel, corporate or otherwise.

when traditional journalism jobs — particularly in newspapers — are rapidly disappearing. A venture like Defensedialogue.com, it seems, opens the door to more cynical operators who are willing to blur the lines between journalism and other lines of business.

Corporate espionage is always a threat, but when the economy is sour the temptation is greater and finding broke or disgruntled employees is easier.

Stamping out data leakage & industrial espionage during a recession

How the recession is impacting IT security and top tips to ring fence your data to minimise risk.

British pair charged in ‘industrial espionage’ row

Two Wyko engineers are alleged to have used a mobile telephone to photograph a secret piece of equipment at an American factory

Border Guard

The first was when the Border Guards took away a client’s mobile phone to ensure that it was “legal” in the country he was entering. They returned it a few minutes later saying it was “legal”.

In the car on his way to the hotel our client took off the battery and removed the chip. He didn’t use or carry the phone for the rest of his trip. Upon his return home he had the phone examined. The battery had been swapped for one that turned it into a mobile bug and tracking device.

Industrial Espionage

The second client had similar alterations done to his phone while he was having a shower in his hotel room. Later, he remembered that it was on the wrong side of the night stand when he retrieved it before going to dinner.

The tampering was discovered by his corporate security staff while he was in a meeting. The Security Guard took the battery out and placed the phone on the table in front of him at the entrance of the meeting room. Without anything to do, the bored Guard was staring at the batteries of two identical phones and noticed that a label was on upside-down on one battery. This prompted him to have both phones examined.

This client now knows why things had not been going well with his project during the weeks since his overseas trip to meet with a potential supplier.

Tin Foil Hat

Now some mobile telephones like the iPhone have an integral battery that can’t be changed, but these  smartphones can be loaded-up with malicious software. It has been suggest that you fashion a tin foil hat for your cell phone to thwart tracking and eavesdropping.

Faraday Cage Cell Phone Wallet

A Faraday Cage is a grounded metal cage with holes that are smaller that the RF wave length from which you wish to be shielded.  A tin foil wallet might shield the cell phone and prevent it from receiving or sending signals.

I haven’t tried this but it might work with a a little tinkering, even though it isn’t grounded, due to the week signal strength of cell phones.

Detecting a Cell Phone Bug

The following video about cell phone bugs, and related topics, begins by listing some ways to detect a mobile telephone altered to become a surveillance device.

An unauthorized visitor shows up after work hours disguised as a janitor and carrying an iPod…He walks from computer to computer and “slurps” up all of the Microsoft Office files from each system. Within an hour he has acquired 20,000 files from over a dozen workstations…

He began working for AMD eight days before his employment at Intel ended. Pani still had access to Intel’s computer network. Russell said Pani used this access to collect sensitive documents that might have provided valuable competitive intelligence for his new employer.

“…there is no evidence AMD knew of Pani’s actions or encouraged them. Neither is there evidence that AMD ever received the confidential Intel files.”

You can read the entire article at The Boston Globe.

The following books illustrate that mundane attacks, which so often succeed, represent an enormous drain on our economy. Understanding why these attacks result in large losses is the first step in preventing them. To work both sides of the street, the Competitive Intelligence professional should understand these attacks. The Competitive Intelligence professional will understand the risk better than anybody and should educate his colleagues about  the risks and solutions. The Competitive Intelligence professional will also be positioned to exploit the opposition’s failings where legally and ethically permitted.

Confessions of a Corporate Spy

A former National Security Agency analyst who is now an expert on corporate espionage offered chilling accounts yesterday of his easy penetration into a variety of U.S. companies. In one case, in just a few hours he was able to make off with product plans and specifications worth billions of dollars.

“Never measure security budgets by IT,” said Winkler, author of [asa link]0764584685[/asa].

Other excellent books in this area are:

[asa link]1591096227[/asa]

and  [asa link]0595301290[/asa].

Napoleon said, “The art of war does not require complicated maneuvers; the simplest are the best, and common sense is fundamental. From which one might wonder how it is generals make blunders; it is because they try to be clever.”

Applying Napoleon’s maxim on simplicity to protecting critical data throughout your organization would go a long way to securing your company’s most precious asset.